Dream Ritual, Marion Woodman, and More – The Temenos Center Newsletter for April

This Month:

Soul-Making and the Wounded Healer – Spaces still available, register now

The Booksehelf: C. Michael Smith’s Jung and Shamanism

Jungians and Archetypalists: Marion Woodman

News from The Temenos Center

Quote of the month…

“When we only think about symbols, or talk about them, we are able to detach ourselves too readily from the feeling quality that surrounds them. But if we do something to express the symbol—something that involves our bodies and our emotions—the symbol becomes a living reality for us. It etches itself indelibly on our consciousness.”

–Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work

A dream ritual is a symbolic act that empowers the bringing of a dream symbol or image into the physical world. It need not be complicated; sometimes simply going for a walk in honor of the dream image is enough. No need for elaborate ceremony. Whatever the ritual, as long as we know that we are honoring the dream, it is effective. This is a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious that involves all levels of our being. From this perspective, dreaming and dream-ritual are not forms of separation, but rather a re-joining of the timeless and ever-ongoing event of being human, a climbing out of the stream of time in which our everyday consciousness all too easily becomes trapped. This is a growth of consciousness, not in the sense of development along some linear path, but in the sense of a becoming-fuller and more aware of what is already always there.

Doing something in honor of the dream begins with intention and ignites the potential for awareness. The following through on the intent ignites that potential still further until the “I” accepts it is only along for the ride and retreats into observing mode. Then it happens! We come into fuller awareness of our place, and the dream’s place, within the larger embrace of the world’s dream.

The workshop Soul-Making and the Wounded Healer filling up… Register now with discount code jsevnt15 and save 15%

There are still spaces available for this workshop, but they are filling up. Register now at:

The Bookshelf

If you can’t make the Soul-Making and Wounded Healer workshop (and even if you can) the following book is a wonderful introduction to the relationships between shamanism and Jungian psychology:

Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue: Retrieving the Soul / Retrieving the Sacred

From Amazon.com:

In this highly original study, C. Michael Smith draws on phenomenological resources and hermeneutic dialogue to explore the affinities and distinctions between shamanism and Jungian psychology, both rooted ultimately in a heart-centered way if life, and both having highly intricate maps of the human psychic interiors. As the reader adventures through this book he or she will encounter shamanic initiation, dismemberments, disassociation, grief, despair, and soul loss, the healing power of ritual, ecstasy and other altered states. The book explores many rich topics including the role of talismans and amulets, the various levels of the collective unconscious, the archetypal and imaginable perspectives on such phenomena, and implications for psychotherapeutic practice today. In the new preface, the author argues that in the end “It isn’t the fascinating and powerful techniques that are the essential thing, but the person inside, its capacity to live from the heart n Earth-honoring and Nature- attuning ways that is the essential center of the Jung/shamanism interface.”

In Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue, C. Michael Smith has written a “must have” classic for all students of shamanism and Jungian psychology. Thorough, clear and authoritative, Smith writes from first-hand perspective, drawing on his own depth experiences in studying and teaching shamanism and Jungian psychology for decades. As in his previous book, Psychotherapy and the Sacred, he is psychological and spiritual, phenomenological and historical in his unique perspective. Jung was often described as a “shaman” by those who knew him well, but few have had the courage to openly make this claim, and none has presented the case as thoroughly as Smith has. This new preface to this second edition adds a richness of wisdom worth the price of the book. -Tess Castleman, Training Analyst, The C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich

Jungians and Archetypalists

Marion Woodman

Mythopoetic author, women’s movement figure, and Jungian analyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Marion Woodman is one of the most well-known women in the depth psychological field. In 2012 Mind Body Spirit Magazine named Marion as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Widely read as an author on feminine psychology, her writing focuses on the relationship between the psyche and the soma (Greek: “body”). A few of her notable works include Leaving my Father’s House: A Journey to Conscious Femininity (1992), Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness (1996), and Bone: Dying to Life (2000). That last work was based on a journal Marion kept while undergoing treatment for uterine cancer after being diagnosed in November of 1993. Her full collection of works, including correspondance, manuscripts, audio and visual lectures, can be found at Pacifica Graduate Institute’s OPUS Archives and Research Center in Santa Barbara, California, and the Somatic Studies program at Pacifica is heavily influenced by Marion’s work.

Recommended listening: Dreams: Language of the Soul, Marion Woodman

On Dreams: Language of the Soul, Marion Woodman turns her attention to the world of dreams, their collective patterns and interpretation. Acclaimed for her work as an author and Jungian analyst specializing in feminine psychology, Woodman describes how the very destiny of the soul is directed through dreams. In rich detail, she helps us explore the images, myths, and metaphors that express our collective concerns, and grasp how dreams allow us to navigate and fathom the future.

Check out the Archetypal Image board at Pinterest

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Archetypal and Mythic Evenings

Come and join us on Thursdays at 7:00pm for our Archetypal and Mythic evenings. These group evenings engage many topics to deepen the soulful life, such as art and creativity, mythological studies, and archetypal work with popular culture, such as film and literature.